Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Midwest Girl Meets Costa Rican Cuisine

I've got something fun and special to share with everybody today! Yesterday I did Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24!

Great! Umm... what's that?

Every month Foodbuzz asks its Featured Publishers (which I am one) from all over the world to submit proposals for their 24, 24, 24 event. Foodbuzz then selects 24 meal proposals. All 24 meal entries will be held on the same day, thus the term: 24 [meals], 24 [hours], 24 [posts].

So, I was super excited when I received an email saying that I was one of the chosen ones!

My proposal was to spend the afternoon preparing traditional Costa Rican food with my added flare. I shared this meal with my family and a few friends of ours (two who are "Ticas") in our 75-year-old farmhouse. Thus the title, Midwest Girl Meets Costa Rican Cuisine, was born.

Before I move on to the delicious food... let me share a little about the cuisine that I've learned to work with over the last year. Costa Rican cuisine isn't very unique or exciting. It consists of rice, beans, choice of grilled meat, fried plantains, pasta salad or coleslaw and is often referred to as "typical" or "casado", but with my personal touch... I've created "A-typical" Costa Rican food in our house.

Here in Costa Rica you find lots of small restaurants called "sodas" serving these dishes, but it is hard to actually find a soda serving GOOD "typical" food. Here's what a typical "casado" dish looks like:

Picture source: Wikipedi

For some of you that might look great, but for me... it's typical and after a few plates of beans and rice my taste buds are left wanting more. So, Friday I went to the market as usual and bought what I needed for this special meal. Come, let me show you around the feria (farmer's market) where we buy our fresh veggies and fruit.

We had a great time talking, laughing and eating the delicious food! I was very pleased with how well everything came out. Before serving the meal, I asked my tica amigas, Marielos and Gily (along with everybody else) to rate each dish on the scale of 1-5...

1-terrible, 2-okay, 3-good, 4-great, 5-que rico!

Marielos & Gily

... and share their comments about the food, its unique style and overall taste. After all, the Ticas know their cuisine and who would be better to judge my food then them? With no further ado I present you the A-typical Tico meal:

Aperitivos - Appetizers

For my appetizers, I chose two that are usually the favorites here in Costa Rica, Chorreadas & Ceviche. I like them too, but always thought they needed something to make it spark.

The Chorreadas are a regular in our house and I usually throw in fresh oregano and garlic cloves into the corn batter to make it more tasty. Here they just use fresh corn, milk and salt or honey... then top it with sour cream. We love it topped with bean paste, cortido (sauerkraut), chopped tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream. To make it more like an appetizer and less like a meal, I made them smaller... "mini-chorreadas".

It was my first time making the Ceviche and it tasted just the way I imagined it would if I added mangos. I found a great recipe in my Nourishing Traditions book, but instead of adding tomatoes... I added mangos. I also used red bell peppers instead of chiles and it was a nice sweet touch. It was light, delicious and you could taste everything without the lime overpowering. I will be making this more regularly now that I know how to make it!

Chorreadas con Acompañamientos

[Corn Pancakes with Toppings]

• To make the Chorreadas, see recipe.
• See recipes for lacto-fermented bean paste and cortido.

Ceviche de Pescado con Mango

[Latin American Raw Fish Salad with Mango]

• 1 pound sea bass, white fish fillets (that's what I used) or mackerel
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. whey (optional)
• 1 large ripe, but firm mango
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small sweet red pepper
• 2-4 Tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (optional)
• sea salt
• limes, cut into wedges

Cut fish into 1/2 inch cubes. Mix with lime juice and optional whey in a bowl. Marinate in the fridge for 12 to 36 hours, stirring occasionally, until fish becomes opaque or "cooked". Remove from marinade with a slotted spoon. Mix with mango, onion, pepper, olive oil, cilantro, optional lime juice and marinate for another hour in fridge. Season to taste. Serve with lime wedges.

Comments:

Gily: All the toppings for the Chorreadas were excellent. I really like the sauerkraut (Cortido). The Ceviche was different from the Tico one we usually have; Great! I would just cut the fish up in smaller pieces, but it was great!

Marielos: My favorite was the Ceviche, the best I ever had. I could eat the whole bowl! It did not have an excessive lime or onion flavor like the Tico-style ceviche. The key was changing out the lime juice; it made the flavor lighter and I could eat more! Que rico!

Brooke (my Mommo): Sauerkraut is excellant and I don't usually like it very much. Would've liked cheese with my Chorreadas. Ceviche is que rico!

Casado - Main Course

For the meat, I chose to do Chicken Kabobs with tamarind glaze because here they don't generally spice up their meats and the meat cuts are simple. We've grown to love grilled pineapple and mango on the grill with our kabobs, so I thought it would be a good meat choice. I found several different recipes for Tamarind Glaze online, but didn't find what I wanted... so I made my own. I've never made a tamarind sauce before and instantly fell in love with the tart flavor after spicing it up. It really added up nicely with the pineapple and mango.

A "casado" meal generally serves the rice and beans separate, but I wanted to do the Gallo Pinto (or gallopinto). Now, let me share a little bit about the Gallo Pinto... it literally means "Mottled Rooster" and it is the national dish of Costa Rica (and Nicaragua, who uses red beans). When the beans and rice are combined, the rice is colored by the beans and it results in specked appearance that resembles the roosters here in CR.

Fuego - My Mottled Rooster

I enjoy the gallo pinto traditionally made here, but felt that it lacked something. Then the idea of cooking it in coconut milk came in after looking at a Caribbean-style rice and beans recipe in my Nourishing Traditions cookbook. I also threw in some cayenne peppers to give it a light spicy kick. Costa Ricans don't usually like their food spicy, but I just had to do it for the flavor and spice. It was delicious! I really love this style of gallo pinto because the sweetness of the coconut milk and the spiciness of the cayenne. I didn't know this, but my friends shared with me that on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, they sometimes use coconut milk in the gallo pinto too.

For the side dishes, I chose to do a simple coleslaw, but spiced it up with my lacto-fermented Ginger Carrots. It was yummy! I threw in raisins and sunflower seeds to give it some crunch and flavor. In Costa Rica they use mayonnaise in their coleslaw, but I tossed it in olive oil, raw apple cider vinegar & raw honey.

Instead of the usual fried plantain that is always served on the side, I did Glazed Pejibayes (Peach-palms or Pewa). I've never made this before and it was a perfect fit for the meal... lightly sweet and great flavor and this was my daughter Naomi's favorite :o) I learned that Peach-palms are very nutritional and loaded with fiber. The flavor is somewhat difficult to describe, but some say it's a combination of chestnut and pumpkin while others say it has little flavor. It comes in yellows, oranges, greens and reds... we like the reds the best. It is traditionally served with mayonnaise because it can be dry and fibrous.

Chuzos de Pollo Tropical

[Tropical Chicken Kabobs]

• Chicken breast, cut into pieces
• Pineapple, cut into large pieces
• Firm & slightly green mango, cut into large pieces
• Sea salt and black pepper

Wash chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. Mix sea salt and black pepper into the chicken. Push chicken, pineapple and mango on bamboo sticks or stainless steel kabob sticks.

Glaseado de Tamarindo

[Tamarind Glaze]

• 1 cup Tamarind pulp with seeds
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 8-10 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 Tbsp. Honey
• 1 Tbsp. Dark molasses
• 3 Tbsp. fresh ginger juice
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp. fresh black pepper
• 1-3 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes

Stir water and tamarind pulp over medium high heat. Cook till the pulp and water mixes together and starts to lightly boil. Immediately pour into a coarse strainer and push the pulp through with a strong spatulet. Discard seeds. Mix the rest of the ingredients in and stir well. Adjust the sea salt to your taste. Keep in fridge till ready to use. Will stay good for up to a week or two in a sealed container in your fridge.

NOTE: You can use your garlic mincer to make the ginger juice OR if you have a juicer, then you are good to go :o)

Gallo Pinto con Leche de Coco

[Mottled Rooster Bean with Coconut Milk]

• 1 cup black beans
• warm water
• 1 Tbsp. whey or lemon juice
• 1 can (2 cups) coconut milk or 7 oz. creamed coconut
• 1-2 cayenne peppers, seeded and finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, mashed
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup brown rice, soaked at least 7 hours
• 1 sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1 medium red onino, chopped
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• sea salt

Cover beans with warm water. Stir in whey or lemon juice (you can add 1 tsp. baking soda to eliminate the gas effects of beans) and leave 12-24 hours in a warm place.

The next day, drain and rinse beans really well and place in a pot. Add enough water to cover the beans, bring to a boil and skim off foam that rises (impurities). Let beans simmer for about two hours slightly covered with a lid and stir occasionally. Add remaining ingredients except rice (if using creamed coconut, stir till it is melted). Cover and simmer till beans are tender.

Drain and rinse rice. Add into the pot. Make sure the rice and beans are completely covered with liquid, if not... add enough water to cover the rice and beans about 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered until liquid has reduced to level of rice and beans. Cover and cook on lowest heat for about 30 mintues (or till cooked through).

Turn of heat and stir in pepper, onion and cilantro. Season to taste. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes with lid on to lightly cook the veggies.

Pejibayes Glaseados

[Glazed Peach-palms]

2 lbs. pejibayes

4-6 Tbsp. butter and/or coconut oil

1/2-3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp. grated lime zest

To cook pejibayes: Boil in salted water till soft... usually about 2 hours. Let it sit in the water till ready to use.

Peel and slice the pejibayes, removing the seeds. Lightly saute in hot butter or oil at medium heat. Add coconut palm sugar and ground ginger. Stir till until the pejibayes are glazed. Add lime zest and lightly stir.

Make the dish just before serving so they retain their color and luster.

Ensalada de Repollo con Gengibre y Zanahoria

[Ginger Carrot Coleslaw]

• 1 small green cabbage
• 1 small red cabbage
• 1-2 cups lacto-fermented ginger carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. raw honey (optional)

Finely slice the cabbages and toss with ginger carrots, raisins and sunflower seeds. In a seperate bowl, mix together olive oil, vinegar and honey. Pour over coleslaw and toss well till evenly coated.

Comments:

Jon (my amazing Hubby): The kabobs were amazing, best I've ever had. The chicken was soft and juicy with the tamarind glaze and the fruit was bursting with flavor - especially the mango. I like gallo pinto, but today's was over-the-top good. It was light 'n creamy with a subtle kick of cayenne and I didn't have to add any sour cream. Que rico mi amor!

Brooke: Gallo pinto was amazing and the chicken kabob had a great flavor! The Peach-palms were good, but not a big fan. The coleslaw needs a little more flavor.

Wayne (my Daddio): I enjoy Gallo Pinto here, but what I just had tonight was the best I've ever had. The Tamarind Glaze on the kabobs was delicious! Overall, the food and day was very good... Que rico!

Gily: Que rico! The gallo pinto was unique. The coconut flavor was light and the gallo pinto from the Caribbean usually has a very strong coconut flavor with more rice then beans. Mare did a wonderful job of using a hint of Caribbean flavor in the traditional gallo pinto and balancing the rice and beans. I love it!! The Pejibayes was very unique and great!

Marielos: I loved the Pejibayes! I never thought of them as a dessert. We (Ticos) only eat them with mayonnaise and a cup of coffee. Mare's were great... not too sweet.

Postre - Dessert

Of course, a Costa Rican meal wouldn't be complete without the plantains! I found this yummy dish in my Nourishing Traditions cookbook when we first moved here and made this once in a while when we all had a hankering for plantains. The best kind of plantains to buy are the ones that look almost ready to be thrown out... black and very soft. They are the sweetest at that stage. Unfortunely, I could not find black ones at the feria while shopping on Friday. So, I was stuck with some plaintains that were still yellow with some black around it. This wasn't my best... I've made it better, but it was still really yummy.

I also made homemade coconut ice cream using FRESH coconut and water. I found this recipe in a raw food cookbook and was excited about it. I've been trying different ways of making coconut ice cream, but haven't found the one that I would claim to be perfect. I decided to give this recipe a try with a couple changes. The results: Flavor was perfect, but the texture needed to be creamier and less grainy. Fresh out of the ice cream maker, it was delicious and almost perfect! But after sitting in the freezer overnight it became hard and less creamy. So, I am still searching/experimenting on the perfect combination. Overall, the dessert was very yummy, but admittedly not my best.

Platanos Maduros en Salsa de Naranja y Miel

[Fried Plantains Soaked in Honey Orange Sauce]

5-8 very ripe large plantain bananas

olive oil or coconut oil

2 cups fresh orange juice

1/3 cup raw honey

3 tsp. cinnamon

Peel bananas and cut lengthwise. Saute in batches in oil, transferring to an oblong pyrex dish when lightly browned.

Mix together orange juice, honey and cinnamon. Pour over the bananas and bake at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes. Serve in bowls with ice cream or cream on top.

Helado de Coco Hecho en Casa

[Homemade Coconut Ice Cream]

1 whole coconut

3/4 cup milk (if needed)

1/3-1/2 cup coconut palm sugar

1 tsp. lime or lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt

Crack open the coconut, save the water and dig out the meat. Put meat and water in a Vita-Mix or strong high-speed blender with everything else, puree until smooth. Chill completely in fridge and then process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

If you don't have a maker. Pour mixture into a plastic sealed container and freeze. Let it sit on counter to thaw a little and put it back in your blender for a creamy soft serve-style ice cream.

Comments:

Marielos: I loved the ice cream''s light flavor, but I'd like it better if it were creamier. I like the plantains more with less honey orange sauce and not as dry (more "creamy").

Jon: Plantains were very good, but not the best. Ice cream had a delicious flavor, but it was very grainy. Needs to to be creamier to satisfy.

Wayne: Loved the flavors, but the ice cream was missing the creamy texture and the plantains needed to be more ripe.

24, 24, 24 Meal Scores

1-terrible, 2-ok, 3-good, 4-great, 5-que rico!

• Gily - Ceviche: 4 / Chorreadas: 5 / Main Course: 5 / Dessert: 4

• Marielos - Ceviche: 5++ / Chorreadas: 4 / Main Course: 5 (Gallo 5, Chi 5, Slaw 3, Peji 5+) / Dessert: 4+

• Jon - Ceviche: 4 / Chorreadas: 4 / Main Course: 4.25 (Gallo 5, Chi 5, Peji 4, Slaw 3) / Dessert: 3.5 (Coco 3, Plant 4)

• Brooke - Ceviche: 5+ / Chorreadas: 4 (like it with cheese) / Main Course: 5 (slaw needs more flavor) / Dessert: 5 (Coco 4, Plant 5)

• Wayne - Ceviche: 4 / Chorreadas: 5 / Main Course: 5 / Dessert: 4

• Gary - Main Course: 5 (He couldn't eat some of the food due to food allergies)

Whew! It was a busy, but really fun day and we were all happily stuffed. In CR, Ticos say "Mi panza llena corazon contento." This phrase means, "my stomach is full and my heart is happy."

Gily was so cute, she asked if I would want to open my own soda and serve my unique style of Costa Rican food. Hmm, you never know... Buen Provecho!

Tabitha: Future Foodie Girl!

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Giveaway: Cultures for Health's Fermented Vegetable Master

The giveaway is now closed! Thank you, Cultures for Health, for letting me host this and thank you everybody for participating!

Good Morning everybody! I hope you all had a great night sleep... I did!

Well, I am excited to start off the weekend with my first giveaway instead of waiting till next week!! Cultures for Health is giving away one of their Fermented Vegetable Master (includes gallon size glass jar and plastic lid fitted with airlock and rubber stopper). If you haven't read my post about this amazing "Lacto Master", please go here.

Are you following the Nourishing Traditions way of life? Or would like to learn how to ferment your veggies, fruits and drinks? Do you want to have a natural source of probiotics right in your kitchen? If so, this is the gadget for you. As many of you know, lacto-ferment foods are superfoods... full of probiotics and a great source of vitamins.

Using the Ferment Vegetable Master makes fermenting vegetable so much easier! The airlock set allows gas to escape while keeping the air out. This allows you to make fantastic homemade pickles, sauerkraut, drinks and other fermented veggies & fruit while reducing or eliminating the mold. I've been making lacto-ferments for almost 3 years (using the mason jar method), but since using the "Lacto Master" set up... there's no going back. The airlock really made a difference in the flavor and texture! So delicious and I can eat it straight out of the jar if I need a quick snack. Check out my recipe for Cortido, Bean Paste, Ginger Carrots and read the benefits of lacto-fermentation. I will be posting more recipes soon!

Enter to Win a

Fermented Vegetable Master

1. Click on link below and sign up on the Cultures for Health's site to win:

• The contest is now close!!

That's good for one entry... now here are more ways to get more than one entry:

2. Sign up for my email updates. Leave a noisy comment below telling me that you signed up. You also get an entry if you already subscribe...again, make sure you tell me that! (1 extra entry)

3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include the URL to this page in your tweet. Here's a suggested tweet: "Enter to WIN a free Fermented Vegetable Master @ [enter URL here]". Leave a noisy comment telling me that you are following me and tweeted. (1 extra entry)

4. Friend me on Facebook and post about the giveaway on your Facebook status. Be sure to include the URL to this page in your status update. Leave a noisy comment below telling me that you did those two things. (1 extra entry)

Also, you can get 1 extra entry if you follow Cultures for Health on Twitter and/or friend them on Facebook. (1 extra entry)

5. Blog about the giveaway. Make sure to link back to this page on your blog. Comment below with the link. (1 extra entry)

6. Email 4 friends about the giveaway. Make sure you put a link to this page on the email. Leave a comment below telling me that you did. (1 extra entry)

7. Last, but not the least... tell me what is the first thing you want to make if you won the "Lacto Master". (1 extra entry)

Okay, there is a total of 8 entries and 7 (well... 8, really) ways to enter. BUT... there is one rule: Only those who have USA addresses are welcome to enter this contest. It is due to the shipping costs, I'm sorry!

The giveaway will end Friday, September 4th 11:59 AM CST. The winner will be announced on my blog Saturday, September 5th. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me with his or her full name, address and phone number.

Enjoy your weekend and have fun everybody!

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Sweet Wholesome Wednesday: Coconut Palm Sugar

Today I want to take a break and share with you a new sweetener that is making a comeback into the market these days.... Coconut Palm Sugar.

All I can say is... this sugar is extraordinary and delicious!

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about this alternative sweetener. I love my honey, but I want a variety when I make my sweet treats. After doing a bit of research and finding good reviews from some of my favorite food blogs. I decided to give it a try, so while we were in the states in July I stopped by an Asian market and picked up two different kinds (wet paste and hard round lumps) .

They are both from Thailand, but produced by different companies. I was surprised, but very pleased, to find that they both had slightly different flavors and smells. The hard round lumps has a very pleasant floral smell and taste. The wet paste has more of a light carmel smell and taste. They taste a tad bit like maple syrup and much lighter than honey or unrefined cane sugar. It has been wonderful to use so far. So, from what I gathered in my research, coconut palm sugar is...

made from the nectar produced from the coconut tree (coco nucifera). Once collected, it is boiled and processed into a granule.

Coconut palm Sugar is naturally low on the Glycemic Index (GI), which has benefits for weight control and improving glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes (type 1 and type 2). Coconut palm sugars are rated as a GI 35. By comparison, most commercial Agaves are GI 42, Honeys are GI 55 and Cane Sugars are GI 68.

Coconut palm Sugars produce slow release energy, which sustains the human body through your daily activities without regular sugar “highs”, and “lows”.

The major component of coconut sugar is sucrose (70-79%) followed by glucose and fructose (3-9%) each. Minor variations will occur, due to differences in primary processing, raw material source, tree age and variety of coconut. (source)

A Traditional Sugar

Made from the sap of coconut flowers, coconut palm sugar is given to us from nature. It is boiled down to create either dry sugar lumps, a wet paste or granulated form. To clear up any confusion... the names "palm sugar" and "coconut sugar" are the same according to the Wikipedia, but the sugars are different...

Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as "coconut sugar." The sugar is a golden brown paste, sold in tubes, blocks or tin cans. It may be light-colored or dark, soft and gooey or hard. As a lightly-processed product of cottage industry, it varies greatly from batch to batch.

In Thai cuisine, palm and "coconut sugar" (nahm dtahn bpeep/buk and nahm dtahn maprao) are used interchangeably. However, it may be an important distinction that "coconut sugar" is not derived from the coconut fruit itself. "Although the names are used interchangeably, palm sugar and coconut sugar are not the same. One comes from the palmyra or sugar palm and the other from coconut palm, but both are produced from the sweet, watery sap that drips from cut flower buds."[1]

Read here how they traditionally make the sugar and watch this great video too!

Rich in Minerals & Vitamins

I was thrilled to find out that coconut palm sugar actually has a richer nutritional value than all commercially available sweeteners. It is rich in Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc and Iron. It is also a natural source of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C. Wow!

On this website, you will see more nutritional information and the health attributes of coconut palm sugar. I also found a wonderful website that compares the nutritional values of unrefined cane sugar and coconut palm sugar, plus more information.

Low on the GI Index

I'm sure you caught this while reading through the two websites I suggested above. This is very exciting. This may be a good sweetener for those who have diabetes. I know most of you like using agave syrup for it's "low" GI rating, but there has been many reports and concerns about agave being no better than high fructose corn syrup (which is why I choose not to use it). Some of you like stevia, but there are some disadvantages (not great for baking and taste) as well.

Coconut palm sugar's GI index is given a low 35. Agave syrup's GI rating varies from 27-41, so coconut sugar is comparable. While researching, I was wondering if coconut palm sugar would be similiar to agave syrup by having a high fructose content, but the research shows that it doesn't (fantastic news!).

Coconut palm sugar is GI-35. The Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Institute used the following procedure to determine the Glycemix Index (GI) value of palm sugar:

• Fifty grams (240 ml) standard glucose tolerance test beverage (Medic Orange 50, Product no. 089) and fifty (50) grams of coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) sugar was fed in random order to ten (10) human subjects.
• Blood samples (0.3-0.4 ml) were collected after feeding through finger prick using a 7ml Vacutainer at zero (0) hour, and thereafter at every 15 min interval for 1 hour, and every 30 min or the next hour.
• The serum was separated from the blood using a refrigerated Effendorf centrifuge, and analyzed for glucose levels on the same day using a Clinical Chemistry Analyzer after calibration with the glucose standard (Glucofix Reagent1: Menarini Diagnostics, Firenze, Italy).
• The blood sugar levels of the ten (10) healthy human subjects given coconut palm sugar and reference glucose food samples were graphed against the time of study. The incremental area under the glucose response curve (IAUC) of the coconut palm sugar was calculated geometrically ignoring the area below the fasting level (Wolever et al.,1991). The Glycemic Index (GI) of the coconut palm sugar was calculated as GI = IAUC of the test food / IAUC of standard glucose multiplied by 100. It’s index value is 35. (source)

So, after research and learning that coconut palm sugar is... traditional, rich in minerals & vitamins, low GI and has a wonderful sweet flavor... I am now hooked on this stuff! You can find coconut palm sugar in your local health food store, but you can also find this at your local Asian market.

Another great advantage... when you buy coconut palm sugar, you are helping the small farmers!! Here's another video that shows the lives small farmers trying to make a living producing and selling coconut palm sugar:

Coconut Palm Sugar

I've been experimenting with the coconut palm sugar here and there, but everything I've tried so far tasted delicious! I am looking forward to sharing some sweet treats using coconut palm sugar starting next week (or maybe sooner!).

IMPORTANT NOTE: I received a message from Coco Palm Sugar explaining the different sugars more clearly, here's what he said: "One of the thing you need to be aware of is the prevalence of "palm sugars" disguised as sugar coming from coconuts. There are a number of palm trees from which palm sugar is made from and only those from coco nuciferas has been studied and proven to have low GI properties." So, when you buy your coconut palm sugar... make sure to read where the sugar is coming from coconut palm flowers. Check out his website and read up on great information about coconut palm sugar!

Now go get yourself some!

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